Abstract
In the last decade, the number of full-time registered dietitians (RDs) serving intercollegiate athletes in the United States has more than quadrupled. However, many student athletes may be at increased risk of nutrition-related problems that impact physical and academic performance, which include inadequate macronutrients, inadequate micronutrients, and excessive macronutrients. This narrative review reports the current literature to date on nutrition-related knowledge in collegiate athletes and the impact of sports RDs on student athletes’ nutrition knowledge and behaviors. To date, only observational and quasi-experimental studies have been published with regard to changes in nutrition knowledge and behaviors in NCAA athletes. While these studies report benefits of the RD as a member of the interdisciplinary student athlete support team, more well-designed randomized control trials are warranted to determine benefits related to health outcomes and sport-specific performance outcomes.
Highlights
The first full-time registered dietitian (RD) was hired by an American university athletic department in 1994 [1]
A narrative review process was selected due to insufficient studies examining the impact of sports dietitians on the health and performance of student athletes
One hundred twenty-one papers and 253 papers were retrieved from the and searches, respectively
Summary
The first full-time registered dietitian (RD) was hired by an American university athletic department in 1994 [1]. The Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association (CPSDA) was chartered in 2010 to provide continuing education for and advancement of sports RDs. Since the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) deregulation of feeding in 2014, the number of sports RDs in the collegiate setting has grown exponentially to meet the new demand [2]. Studies have been conducted to assess nutrition needs and problems of collegiate athletes. These problems can be summarized in three categories: inadequate macronutrients, inadequate micronutrients, and excessive macronutrients
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